The Discovery of Yucatan in 1517 by Francisco Hernández de Córdoba

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THE DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN IN 1517 BY
FRANCISCO HERNANDEZ DE CORDOBA

By MARSHALL H. SAVILLE

It has been justly stated by H. H. Bancroft that "prior to 1517 almost
every province of the eastern continental seaboard, from Labrador to
Patagonia, had been uncovered, save those of the Mexican gulf, which
casketed wonders greater than them all. This little niche alone remained
wrapped in aboriginal obscurity, although less than forty leagues of strait
separated the proximate points of Cuba and Yucatan." 1

It seems certain that the Gulf of Honduras was first discovered by
Columbus, on his fourth and last voyage in 1502. On this voyage he
reached the so-called Guanaja Islands off the Honduras coast and from
there went eastward, skirting the Central American coast to Panama. "We
shall not enter into the discussion of the question raised by Oviedo, who
denies this discovery of Columbus and writes that "the gulf of Higueras
[Honduras] was discovered by the pilots Vicente Yafiez Pingon, Juan
Diaz de Solis, and Pedro de Ledesma with three caravels." 2 It seems
apparent that Pin§on and Solis visited this region in 1508, after the news
of the voyage of Columbus had been made public, and they probably saw
the eastern shores of Yucatan on this trip. The date of the voyage is dis-
puted, but we believe the year 1508, as given by Ferdinand Columbus, 3 to
be the right one, although Winsor 4 and Bancroft 5 incline to the date 1506,
following Herrera, who has taken for his authority Las Casas, who does
not mention, however, the exact year. Las Casas states that there was a

1 H. H. Bancroft: History of Mexico, Vol. 1, 1516-1521, San Francisco, 1883; reference in Ch. 1, p. 2.

2 6. P. de Oviedo y Valdes : Historia General y Natural de las Indias, edition of the Real Academia de
la Historia, Madrid, 1852; reference in Vol. 2, Bk. 21, Ch. 8, p. 140.

3 Fernando Col6n: Historia del Almirante Don Crist6bal Col6n, edition of Colecci6n de Libros Raros
6 Curiosos, vi, Madrid, 1892, Vol. 2, Ch. 89, pp. 145-146. In this connection the reader is referred to the
study by Dr. P. J. J. Valentini entitled " Pinzon-Solis 1508," in Zeitschr. Gesett. fur ErdkumU su Berlin,
Vol. 33, 1898, pp. 254-282. In his "The Portuguese in the Back of Columbus" (Bull. Amer. Geogr. Soc., Vol.
20, 1888, pp. 432-444; Vol. 21, 1889, pages 35-56, 167-196, 359-379) Valentini advances the argument that, imme-
diately after the return of Columbus from his first voyage, the Kingof Portugal secretly sent a fleet of four
vessels to the islands found by the discoverer in 1493. They reached the coast of Yucatan, and as a result
of their explorations drew up a chart showing the result of their discoveries on the three sides of the
peninsula. A map of 1501 has been used by Valentini to analyze the place names of the Portuguese survey
of the Yucatan coast, two of the most significant being Conillo, identified by Valentini as Cozumello, and
Kimpech, the Campeche of today. Valentini goes so far as to write, " the Portuguese in the year 1493 were
the first, and Pinzon-Solis the second, discoverers of Yucatan."

* Justin Winsor, in his " Narrative and Critical History of America," Vol. 2, p. 191, writes : " It should
be remembered that Columbus on his fourth voyage had sailed along the coast from Cape Honduras to
Nombre de Dios, and that Vicente Yafiez Pinzon and Juan Diaz de Solis, coasting the shores of the Gulf of
Honduras, had sailed within sight of Yucatan in 1506; and therefore that in 1508 the coast line was well
known from the Gabo de S. Augustin to Honduras."

' Bancroft, op. cit.. Vol. 1, p. 12.

436

C6RD0BA'S DISCOVERT OF YUCATAN

437

disagreement about this
voyage among the wit-
nesses, some saying that
after they reached the
Guanajas and had dis-
covered the Golfo Dulce,
they followed the coast
from the Guanajas,
and soon discovered a great bay
to which they gave the name the
great bay of Navidad, and from
there they [went and] discov-
ered the mountains of Caria and
other lands beyond; and, ac-
cording to what other witnesses
say, they returned to the north.
And from all this it seems with-
out doubt that they discovered
then a great part of the king-
dom of Yucatan, only that
afterwards there was no one
who followed up that discovery,
[and] nothing more was sur-
mised of the edifices of that
kingdom, where the land and
grandeur of the kingdom of
New Spain might easily have
been discovered, until it was
discovered from Cuba.s

The Discovery of
Yucatan

The credit for the. real
discovery of Yucatan must
be awarded to Francisco
Hernandez de Cordoba,
who sailed from Cuba in

e Bartolome de Las Casas: Historia
de las Indias, edition of Fuensanta
del Valle and Sancho Rayon, Madrid,
1875, Vol.3, Ch. 39, p. 201.

Fig. 1 (Upper)— The present coastline
of the northeastern point of Yucatan
to illustrate the site of Cordoba's land-
fall. Scale, 1:1,400,000. Based on U.S.
Hydrographic Office Chart No. 966.

(Lower)— Cordoba's route (conjec-
tural) on his voyage of discovery of
Yucatan, 1517. Scale, 1:30,000,000. Based
on sources cited in footnotes 18 and 37.

SContoy I.

:ilsla Blanca

i \Mujeres I.

438 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

1517 on a slave-raiding expedition 7 and came to the northeastern point,
where the Spaniards first came into contact with the ancient civilized people
of Mexico and saw the stone buildings of the Mayas. Prom Cape Catoche
Cordoba went around the peninsula as far as the present state of Campeche,
and then he probably returned to Cuba by way of southern Florida (see
Fig. 1).

Accounts of the Early Writers
The first printed account of Cordoba's discoveries is found in the fourth
"Decade" of Peter Martyr, in Latin, piratically printed under the title
"De Nuper Sub D. Caroli Insulis" in Basel in 1521. 8 Then follow the
long account in Oviedo, first printed in Seville in 1535, and the work of
Gomara, first published in Zaragoza in 1552. The only description of this
voyage which we possess written by one of the participants is that of
Bernal Diaz del Castillo. It was not written until he was an old man,
nearly fifty years after the events described had taken place, and was
not printed until 1632. Meanwhile much had been written about the dis-
covery and conquest of Mexico. The best modern account in English of
Cordoba's expedition has been compiled by Bancroft in the first volume
of his "History of Mexico." It is accompanied by references to nearly all
of the original source material which has come to light. An excellent
treatment of the subject is also found in the fourth volume of the scholarly
' ' Historia Antigua y de la Conquista de Mexico, " 9 by . the learned
Mexican historian and geographer Manuel Orozco y Berra. The accounts
of Prescott, 10 Winsor, 11 and Fiske 12 are meager in comparison. Since the
appearance of these works another early chronicle of New Spain has been
brought to light, that of Cervantes de Salazar, which contains some details
not found elsewhere. 13 As a background for the narratives of the voyage
of discovery of Juan de Grijalva in 1518, who followed up the discoveries
of Cordoba, we have translated literally and give in extenso some of the
statements of the early writers concerning motives underlying the despatch
of the expedition under the leadership of Cordoba.

7 Justin Winsor writes that Velasquez, the Governor of Cuba, had distributed the slaves in that island
to such an extent among his followers that the majority of the settlers were unable to get any slaves, "and
in this predicament agreed with Francisco de C6rdova to go on a slave-raiding expedition to some neigh-
boring islands." Bancroft notes that "opinion has been divided as to the original purpose of the expedi-
tion. As it turned out, it was thought best on all sides to say nothing of the inhuman and unlawful
intention of capturing Indians for slaves .... It seems clear to my mind that slaves were the first object
and that discovery was secondary and an after-thought." In the light of the various testimonies which
are quoted hereafter, it will be seen that Bancroft's conclusion is justified.

8 The fourth " Decade " of Peter Martyr, published in 1521, has been translated into English several
times.

9 The " Historia Antigua y de la Conquista de Mexico" was published in Mexico in four volumes, in
1880. The account of the voyages of C6rdoba, Grijalva, and Cortes will be found in Vol. 4.

io W. H. Prescott: Conquest of Mexico, Vol. 1, Bk. 2, Ch. 1.

11 Justin Winsor: Narrative and Critical History of America, 8 vols., Boston and New York, 1884-89.

12 John Fiske : The Discovery of America, 2 vols., Boston and New York, 1892.

w The fact that Francisco Cervantes de Salazar had written a history of New Spain was known, but
the whereabouts of the manuscript, if indeed it had been preserved, was unknown until the end of 1911,
when it was seen by Mrs. Zelia Nuttall in the Biblioteca Nacional, Madrid. Mrs. Nuttall communicated

C6ED0BA'S DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN 439

Las Casas
We quote first from Las Casas, who writes that the expedition was
formed

to go to attack the Indians wherever they might be found, or in the Lucayos islands,
although they were already destroyed, as has been seen above; still, they thought that
some hidden away might be met with, by chance [there], or in other parts of those dis-
covered [islands].

After describing the preparations made to send out the ships, he relates
that, while they were being provisioned in a port called Principe on the
northern coast of Cuba,

the pilot Alaminos said to the captain Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba that it seemed
to him that in that sea to the west below the island [of Cuba] — and his heart led him
to believe so — there should be very rich land, because when he went with the old admiral
[Columbus], he being a boy, saw that the admiral was much inclined to navigate towards
that part, with great hope that he should find [there] well-peopled land and very much
richer than up to there [Honduras], and thus he affirmed it; and because he lacked the
ships he did not proceed on that route, and he turned from the cape he called Gracias a
Dios back of the province of Veragua. This said, Francisco Hernandez, who was [a man]
of great hopes and good spirits, assented to these words and determined to send to Diego
de Velasquez for permission, so that, although they should go to attack Indians and
bring them to that island [of Cuba], in case on their journey they should discover any
new land, he would go with authority as lieutenant of the governor, who governed there
for the King, which [permission] should be sent promptly, as Francisco Hernandez who
asked for it desired. 1 *

The necessary permission was sent and they immediately set sail.

Cervantes de Salazar

Further details are found in the recently discovered "Cronica de la
Nueva Espafia" by Cervantes de Salazar. He writes as follows:

Diego Velasquez being governor of Cuba, Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Crist6bal
Morante, and Lope Ochoa de Caicedo, inhabitants of Cuba, fitted out three ships in the
year 1516 [a mistake; the expedition sailed February 8, 1517]. Some say with the sup-
port of Diego Velasquez, who was very favorably disposed to carry on work of discovery;
others say that it was at his expense. The end sought by the privateers, some say was
to discover and trade (although it is more certain that it was for the purpose of bringing
slaves from the islands of Guanajos near Honduras) .

He goes on to give a different version of the reported conversation of the

pilot Alaminos with Cordoba from that written by Las Casas. He states :

In this manner Francisco Hernandez set out from the port of Santiago de Cuba, who,

her discovery to the Congress of Americanists at its session in London in 1912. It was published under the
auspices of the Hispanic Society in a single volume in Madrid, 1914. After the meeting of the London
congress the writer mentioned the subject of the finding of the manuscript to Francisco del Paso y
Troncoso in Madrid. Sefior Troncoso made the claim to the writer and Professor MacCurdy that he
knew of the manuscript and had made a copy of it some time previous to the visit of Mrs. Nuttall to the
Biblioteca Nacional. He published a part of the work under the title "Cronica de Nueva Espafia escrita
por el doctor y maestro Francisco de Salazar," Madrid, 1914, as Volume 1 of "Papeles de Nueva Espafia
compilados y publicados por Francisco del Paso y Troncoso." The second volume has not yet been pub-
lished so far as the writer is aware. Sefior Troncoso died a year and a half ago, and his literary effects
have recently been sent to Mexico. There is a possibility that the second volume was printed and not
issued.

" Las Casas, op. cit.. Vol. 4, Ch. 96, pp. 349-860.

440 THE GEOGRAPHICAL KEVIEW

when he was on the high sea, declared his intention was different from what it had
seemed. He said to the pilot, ' ' I am not going to hunt Lucayos [Lucayos are Indians of
ransom], but I am going in search of some good island in order to settle it and become
governor of it. I am certain therefore that for my services, as well as the favor I have
at court through my kindred, the King will grant me the favor of the governing of it.
For this reason search with great care, for which I will repay you very well, and you
will gain in all the advantages with all the other of our company. ' ' The pilot accepting
the promises and offers, they went more than forty days, ploughing the sea, and did not
find anything that seemed good. One night at midnight, the ship having fair weather,
the sea calm, the moon shining, the people sleeping, and the pilot wrapped up in a
cloak, he heard the sound of wavelets against the sides of the caravel, and knew that he
was near land. He called the chief pilot and told him to take soundings and see if he
could find bottom.

They found twenty fathoms of water, and the chief pilot, Alaminos, went
to Cordoba with the news saying,

' ' Senor, good news, for we are in the richest land of the Indies. ' ' The captain inquired,
' ' How do you know if? " and he responded, ' ' Because when I was a small cabin-boy of the
ship in which the Admiral Colon went in search of this land, I had a little book that I had
brought, in which it said that, encountering bottom in this direction in the manner in
which we have found it, we should find a great land very thickly settled and very rich,
with sumptuous buildings of stone in it, and this book I have now in my chest. "1 5

Author op "De Rebus Gestis Cortesii"
According to the author of the "De Rebus Gestis Perdinandi Cortesii"
Seven years after the arrival of Velasquez and the Spaniards in Cuba, that is to say in
1517, the island being pacified, Francisco Fernandez de C6rdoba, Lope Ochoa de Salcedo,
Cristobal Morantes, old settlers in the island, and many other Spaniards renowned for
their name and wealth, formed a company among themselves, and named Francisco Fer-
nandez de Cordoba as commandant of the expedition. They prepared four ships, loaded
them with provisions and arms, and brought together men, arranging to leave on a fixed
day in the direction of the Lucayas and Guanajas. The object was to capture by force
or trickery those islanders, a people barbarous and wild, and to bring them to Cuba as
slaves. These islands lie between the south of Cuba and the north of the cape of Hon-
duras, as with little truth Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo has written. At the time of
leaving, the Adelantado Velasquez gave to Cordoba and his companions a vessel, [one]
of those which were used to carry provisions to the Indians of the mines, under the con-
dition that he would be given a part of the Guanajas [Indians] who would be captured.
After the ships had left and were distant from the port, there came up very strong and
contrary wind, so that in place of arriving at the Guanajas, which was where they were
going, they came to stop at the point of Mujeres. 16

The Lucayas are the Bahama Islands to the northeast of Cuba, where
Columbus made his first landfall. The Guanajas, as has been said, were
discovered by Columbus in 1502, and are off the coast of Honduras, almost
due south of the extreme western end of Cuba. Being in diametrically

15 Cervantes de Salazar, op. cit., Bk. 2, Ch. 1, pp. 59-60.

J 6 The "De Rebus Gestis Perdinandi Cortesii," written in Latin, probably by Juan Cristobal Calvert
de Estrella, between the years 1548 and 1550, was translated into Spanish under the title, "Vida de Cortes"
and the Latin text with the Spanish translation was first published by the translator, Joaquin Garcia
Icazbalceta, in Vol. 1 of his "Colecci6n de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico," in 1858. Prescott
made use of a copy of the original manuscript. Reference on pp. 558-559.

CORDOBA'S DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN 441

opposite directions from the island from which they set out, it would seem
more probable that the expedition must have been intended for the Guanaja
group. Furthermore, accounts agree that, after leaving Jaruco, near the
present Havana, they sailed westward and rounded Cape San Antonio.
Had they intended sailing to the Bahamas, they would not have sailed from
Santiago de Cuba around to the north side of the island as far west as
Havana and then gone still farther westward to the extreme end of Cuba.
Leaving Santiago and rounding the eastern Cape Maisi, their course would
have been due north, for the Bahama group is not far distant in this direc-
tion. Prescott makes the assertion that the expedition was bound to "one
of the neighboring Bahama Islands," 17 basing his opinion apparently on
the loose statement in the "De Rebus Gestis" just quoted.

Bernal Diaz
Bernal Diaz, the only eyewitness of the expedition, states that the mo-
tive for the voyage was "in seeking and exploring new lands where we might
find employment." He goes on to say that one of the vessels was "bought
on credit from the Governor Diego Velasquez, on the condition that all of
us soldiers should go in the three vessels to some islands lying between
Cuba and Honduras which are called the Islands of Guanajas and make
war on the natives and load the vessels with Indians, as slaves, with which
to pay him for his bark. ' ' This proposition was refused, and the Governor
fell in with their plan "to go and discover new countries." After the
fleet left Cuba, on passing Cape San Antonio, a storm struck them which
lasted two days and nights, and after the weather moderated, sailing for
twenty-one days from the time they had left port, they sighted land "that
had never been discovered before and no report of it had reached us. ' ' 1S

First Letter of Cortes
A final statement regarding the motives for the trip is found in the
so-called "First Letter" of Cortes, written from Vera Cruz in 1519. In
it are mentioned the names of the three promoters of the expedition and
that "these said persons sent two ships and a brigantine in order to fetch
Indians from those islands" and "we believe, although we do not know it
positively, that the said Diego Velasquez, Lieutenant of the Admiral, owned
a fourth part of the fleet." 19

" Prescott. op. cit.. Vol. 1, Bk. 2, Ch. 1.

18 The original manuscript of the History of Bernal Diaz still exists in the Municipal Archives of
Guatemala City, where the writer has had the great privilege of examining it. The first edition of 1632,
from which later editions and translations have been made, is exceedingly faulty. An "autograph"
edition was edited by Genaro Garcia and printed in Mexico in 1904, from a photographic facsimile of the
original manuscript presented by the President of Guatemala to the Mexican Government. Prom this first
exact publication of Bernal Diaz, Alfred P. Maudslay has made a faithful translation, greatly enriched by
notes, which gain added value from the fact that he has personally visited a greater part of the territory
treated in the History. It has been published by the Hakluyt Society in five volumes (HaUuyt Soc. Pubis.,
2nd Series, Vols. 23-25, 30, and 40, London, 1908-1916).

19 The first letter despatched by Cortes to the King of Spain, relating his adventures in 1518 from the
time of his landing at Cozumel until he arrived off the coast of Yucatan, has been lost. Its place has been

442 the geographical review

Treatment of Cordoba by Velasquez
Authorities vary as to the number of days spent on the outward voyage :
Las Casas states it as only four, Oviedo gives six, while, as has been seen,
Bernal Diaz makes it twenty-one, in which he is followed by Herrera. Las
Casas, who was a friend of Cordoba, does not mention the return of the
expedition by way of Florida, as related by Bernal Diaz. He gives
some interesting information concerning the shabby treatment received
by Cordoba from Velasquez, when, animated by the sight of the gold objects
brought back by the expedition, he began to fit out another expedition to
return to Yucatan, under the leadership of his nephew, Juan de Grijalva.
At the same time we must remember that Cordoba had been sorely wounded
in a fight with the Indians and was hardly in a condition to set out again
for the newly found lands. In fact he died within two weeks after reaching
his home. How much his disappointment had to do with his early demise
we do not know. He himself did not realize his serious condition, as will
be seen by what Las Casas writes. He says :

This appointment grieved Francisco Hernandez very much, and he received it as
a great affront that Diego Velasquez had done it, because he had with his own money, if
it was indeed his, made the fleet, with that of the other two, Cristobal Morante and Lope
Ochoa, establishing and making the discovery, and being placed in so many dangers by
sea and land, and in the end coming out badly wounded. The enterprise, then, was his
very own and apart from him pertained to no one. For which reason he determined to
go to complain to the King about Diego Velasquez, and he wrote to me to this effect,
I being then in Zaragoza, saying that Diego Velasquez had tyranically defrauded him
of the fruits of his labors and that he would not delay more than to be cured of his
wounds, and to receive some funds for the expense, begging me that I would inform the
King in the meantime of his affront. But he disposed to go to Spain, and God disposed
to carry him to the other world. . . Finally, with this innocence like many others, our
friend Francisco Hernandez died. 2 *

The Landfall of Cordoba
Documentary Evidence
Regarding the place of the landfall of Cordoba the early writers are not
at all in accord. Stephens writes regarding the first landing place that
"navigators and geographers, however, have assigned different localities
to this memorable point, and its true position is, perhaps, uncertain." 21
It is the generally accepted idea that the landing was made on the island
of Mujeres, and Mr. S. G. Morley, who coasted the peninsula in 1918, saw
a small monument on the island erected by the Mexican Government in
1917 to commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the discovery of
Mexican territory by Europeans.

supplied by the letter sent by the newly established municipality of the town of Vera Cruz, founded by
the Conqueror after his landing there. It contains a short account of the two previous expeditions as an
introduction. It has been translated at least twice into English. We use the latest translation of Francis
A. MacNutt. published in two volumes in New York, 1908; reference in Vol. 1, p. 127.

20 Las Casas, op. cit.. Vol. 4, pp. 362-363.

2 1 J. L. Stephens: Incidents of Travel in Yucatan, New York, 1843. Vol. 2, p. 356.

CORDOBA'S DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN 443

Bernal Diaz
Nevertheless, the old chronicler Bernal Diaz states that they first
came to land where "from the ships could be seen a large town stand-
ing back from the coast about two leagues .... "We named it Grand
Cairo." He goes on to say that the cacique who came in a canoe to
visit the ships "kept on saying in his language 'Canes catoche,' which
means 'Come to my houses,' and for that reason we called the land
Cape Catoche, and it is still so named on the charts. ' ' Diaz, describing
the sharp fight which took place here between the Spaniards and the
Indians, says, "A short distance ahead of the place where they attacked
us was a small plaza with three small houses built of masonry, which
served as cues and oratories. These houses contained many pottery idols,
some with faces of demons and others with women's faces." 22 It is evident
that this place was between the shore and the large town called Grand
Cairo, but no mention is made of the name Mujeres being applied to any
point in the immediate neighborhood. On the contrary, in describing the
expedition of Cortes in 1519, Diaz writes that after leaving the island of
Cozumel they came to the so-called bay between the island of Mujeres and
the mainland, where they remained for a day and sent two boats to the
shore; they found "farms and maize plantations, and some places where
the Indians made salt, and there were four cues, which are the houses of
their idols, and there were many idols in them, nearly all of them with
figures of tall women, so that we called that place the Punta de Mujeres. ' '
This seems to identify clearly the island, and, so. far as the testimony of
Bernal Diaz is concerned, it is apparent that Cordoba did not go as far
south as Mujeres on his voyage. The fact of finding women's figures and
faces of pottery in both the vicinity of Cape Catoche and the island of
Mujeres may have caused the confusion in the early accounts. Maudslay,
in a footnote to his translation of Bernal Diaz, writes on this point that
"Bernal Diaz says nothing about this locality [Mujeres Island] in his
description of the two earlier voyages, but the author of the 'Itinerario'
says that Grijalva observed it after leaving Cozumel. As Grijalva could
not possibly have had any information on the subject, it seems to show
that the 'Itinerario' was written at a later date than is usually assigned
to it and gave this explanation to account for the name given to the
locality by Cortes. ' ' 2S Cortes does not mention in his letter the landing at
Mujeres alluded to by Bernal Diaz, but it is probable that they landed
there, and there seems to be no reason why Grijalva should not have landed
there, notwithstanding the silence on the subject of both Bernal Diaz and
Juan Diaz, the author of the "Itinerary" of Grijalva, as Grijalva was at
Cozumel, and Mujeres is between there and Cape Catoche.

22 Bernal Diaz, op. tit.. Hakluyt Soc. edition. Vol. 1, pp. 14-17.

23 Ibid.. D. 105.

444 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

OVIEDO AND HeEREEA

In the letter of Cortes it is stated that Cordoba "arrived at the island
of Yucatan at its uttermost point, which may be sixty or seventy leagues
both from the said island of Fernandina, and from this rich land of Vera
Cruz. ' ' Oviedo says that the expedition, after sailing some sixty or seventy
leagues, came to the land of the province of Yucatan, "on the coast of
which they saw low stone towers, which were mesquites or oratories of that
idolatrous people. These edifices were placed on certain steps, and the
towers were covered with thatched roofs." 24 Herrera's account is as
follows : ' ' They saw land at which they rejoiced much, and gave many thanks
to God, and from the ships they saw a town that appeared to be two leagues
from the coast . . And an Indian said in a loud voice 'Conex catoche,' that
is to say 'Come to my houses,' and for this [reason] they gave the name
Punta de Catoche to that point. ' ' 25 In his narrative of the voyage Herrera
follows closely the story as told by Bernal Diaz. He describes the fight
with the Indians and states that where it took place "there were three
houses made of lime and stone that were oratories, with many clay idols
with faces of demons, of women, and other bad figures. ' ' It will be noted
that none of the writers cited — and they are our most trustworthy sources
of information — give the island of Mujeres as the place of first landing of
Cordoba, both Cortes and Oviedo being silent in the matter, and Bernal
Diaz and Herrera being in accord in stating that the place was given the
name of Cape Catoche.

Gomara
In the history of Gomara printed in 1552 we find the earliest definite
published statement that the first land sighted was the island of Mujeres.
He writes that the Spaniards first came to land where "there are some
salt pits at a point called de las Mujeres, for there were there some stone
towers with steps, and chapels covered with wood and straw, in which in
pagan order were put many idols resembling women .... They did not
stop there but went to another point that they called Catoche, where they
saw some fishermen, who from fright or fear retired to land, and who
responded 'Catoche, catoche,' that is to say 'house,' thinking that [the
Spaniards] asked where they were going. From this there remained the
name of the cape of that land." 26 It is significant that Gomara says that
the first place where the Spaniards landed was not at Mujeres but at
Cape Catoche.

"De Rebus Gestis Cortesii"
In the "De Rebus Gestis" we again find Mujeres mentioned as the first
land seen by C6rdoba. It is stated that after encountering a strong head

2* Oviedo y Valdes, op. eU., Vol. 1. Bk. 17, Ch. 8, p. 497.

25 Antonio de Herrera : Historia de las Indias Occidentales, edition of A. Gonzales Barcia, Madrid,
1726-1730. Decade 1, Bk. 2, Ch. 17, p. 47. The first edition was published in Madrid in 1601-15.

26 P. L. de Gomara: La Historia General de las Indias, p. 68. I quote from the edition of Martin
Nucio, printed in Antwerp in 1554.

CORDOBA'S DISCOVERY OF YUCATAN 445

wind the Spaniards "came to stop at the point of Mujeres. They gave it
this name because they found many figures of women or goddesses placed
in a row in a temple. The building was of stone . . . Cordoba leaving there
placed his prow towards the west and sailed as far as Cape Catoche." 27 If
Cordoba placed his prow towards the west it must have been from Cape
Catoche, for, if sailing from Mujeres, the course would have been north-
northwest.

Cervantes de Salazab

Cervantes de Salazar narrates that after leaving Cuba the expedition
came into shallow water one night, and "at ten oclock in the morning
with great joy they sighted land and came to the weather side of a small
island that was called Cozumel on account of the great quantity of honey
which was there." 28 He says that no landing was made there and makes
the mistake of having the fleet come to anchor some thirty leagues up
the coast towards Mexico in the "land of Lazaro." This stop was not
made until after the fight in the vicinity of Grand Cairo described by both
Bernal Diaz and Herrera, the land of Lazaro being in Campeche. Las
Casas also makes the blunder of saying that "they arrived at a large island
called Cozumel, to which the Spaniards gave the name Santa Maria de los
Eemedios. ' ' 29 There is no doubt whatsoever that Cozumel was not seen by
Cordoba and was not discovered until the next year. Bernal Diaz says
that the name Santa Cruz was given to the town discovered on Cozumel
because they first entered it on the day of Santa Cruz. The chaplain Juan
Diaz does not restrict the name to the town but writes: "and because the
day was that of Santa Cruz we gave that name to the land." 30 The name
Santa Maria de los Eemedios was the name given to Yucatan when that
land was still supposed to be an island and was never applied to Cozumel
as stated by Las Casas.

"With a single exception, all later writers on the subject have taken the
authority of Gomara, Torquemada, 31 and others, and the island of Mujeres
has been credited as being the spot where the first landing was made.

*l Work cited in footnote 16, p. 559.

28 Cervantes de Salazar, op. cit., p. 60.

29 Las Casas, op. cit.. Vol. 4, Ch. 96, p. 350.

30 The " Itinerary " of Grijalva, written by the chaplain of the fleet, was published in Italian by
Ludovico de Varthema in the work entitled " Itinerario de Ludovico de Varthema Bolognese ne lo
Egypto, ne la Syria, ne la Arabia Deserta et Felice, ne la Persia, ne la India, et ne la Ethiopia, etc.",
edition printed in Venice by Zorzi de Eusconi in 1520. It was translated into French by Ternaux Compans
and published in Vol. 10 of his " Voyages, Relations et Memoires Originaux Pour Servir a l'Histoire de la
Decouverte de 1'Amerig.ue." Paris, 1838. A translation into Spanish was published by Icazbalceta in his
"Colecci6n de Documentos para la Historia de Mexico," Vol. 1, pp. 281-308, with parallel Italian text. This
has been translated into English by the writer and will appear as Vol. 3 of the publications of the Cortes
Society.

31 Torquemada writes that C6rdoba " discovered the land of Yucatan, a coast until then unknown and
undiscovered by us Spaniards, where upon a headland there were some very large and good salt mines.
It was called Las Mujeres, because there were stone towers, with steps, and chapels covered with wood
and straw, in which many idols that appeared to be females were arranged in a very artificial order." I

446 THE GEOGBAPHICAL EEVIEW

Archeological Evidence

Archeological evidence should throw some light on the problem. The
island of Mujeres is about five miles long, half a mile wide, and about five
miles distant from the mainland (see Fig. 1). Steamers to Belize now
pass close to the southern point of the island, with the small ruined temple
at the extreme end of the point in full view. The ruins have been studied
and described by Stephens, 32 the Le Plongeons, 33 and Holmes. 34 Stephen
Salisbury in a note to an archeological communication made by Dr. Le
Plongeon to the American Antiquarian Society in 1878 calls attention to
"the remarkable agreement in the number of buildings mentioned by
Herrera with the number found by Dr. Le Plongeon in a more or less
ruined condition as shown in his plan." 35 In a later letter Le Plongeon
writes: "You will see in my communication on the Isla Mujeres that I
have found the three houses made of stone and lime that were the oratories
of Herrera." 36 Since the first coming of the Spaniards this southeastern
portion of the island has been slowly washed into the sea, and the
temple, on a bluff about fifty feet above the sea, as shown on the plan of
Le Plongeon, has lost its eastern wall and part of the room.

On the mainland opposite this point are the extensive ruins, now called
El Meco, which have been visited by the explorers mentioned above.
It is close to the sea at present and, if it were not for the testimony of
Bernal Diaz, might well be the Grand Cairo seen by Cordoba. It would
be two leagues from the point of Mujeres, but not two leagues back from
the coast.

Close to Cape Catoche is the small island of Contoy, about four miles
long, low and sandy, upon which no ruins are reported. Cape Catoche is
not the mainland now, it being a low sand spit separated from the main-
land by a shallow channel a quarter of a mile wide. It is possible that it
was connected with the mainland in the early part of the sixteenth century,
as the early maps do not represent it as an island. In his itinerary of
Cordoba published in the new translation of Bernal Diaz, Maudslay places
Grand Cairo on the mainland near Cape Catoche, following the statement

quote from the second edition, printed in Madrid in 1732. The first edition is so rare that the date of
printing is in dispute. A. Gonzales Barcia was the editor ol the second edition. In the preface we read
that the original manuscript which served for the first edition was in his library, and the place
and date of printing are given as Seville, 1615. Prescott gives this date, but Clavigero puts it as 1614, and
we find it in other places as 1612 and 1613. The statement about Mujeres above Quoted is in Vol. 1, Bk. 4,
p. 349.

35 Stephens, op. eit.. Vol. 2, pp. 415-417.

33 Stephen Salisbury: Terra Cotta Figures from Isla Mujeres, Northeast Coast of Yucatan, with
illustrations, Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc., Worcester, 1878, pp. 32-53. An important paper describing the
discoveries of Dr. and Madame Le Plongeon.

m W. H. Holmes: Archeological Studies Among the Ancient Cities of Mexico, Anthropol. Series Field
Columbian Museum, Vol. 1, No. 1, Pt. I, Monuments of Yucatan, pp. 56-63, Chicago, 1895.

3' Paper cited in footnote 33, p. 34.

36 Augustus Le Plongeon : Archaeological Communication on Yucatan, Proc. Amer. Antiquarian Soc.,
Worcester, 1878, p. 57.

CORDOBA'S DISCOVERY OP YUCATAN 447

of the old chronicler. 37 This portion of Yucatan has escaped the careful
investigation of the archeologist. The only explorers who have attempted
to examine this region, Arnold and Frost, 38 did not attack the problem
of the location of Grand Cairo. This portion of the coast is shrouded
with a dense tropical forest which comes to the very edge of the sea. The
remains of ancient settlements lie in an almost impenetrable jungle, and
many ruined buildings have been reported, but no group has yet been
discovered deserving the name Grand Cairo. A Spanish settlement was
made here in early times, and the ruins of the church were reported by
Stephens, who, however, did not visit it. It was examined by Arnold and
Frost about ten years ago and is near the very spot where Grand Cairo
should be located. So far as archeology is concerned, it is seen that the
evidence is conflicting. With an exhaustive archeological survey of this
region should go a careful examination of the physical changes which have
taken place along this coast during four centuries.

Cartographical Evidence
Of the earliest maps which we possess showing the coast of Yucatan
that published by Apianus, printed in Venice in 1520, is the oldest.
Mujeres is represented under the name p; de magieles. 39 In 1524 it is
shown on a map as y. de mueres; i0 in 1527 it appears as y: de mujeres;* 1
in the map of Ribero of 1529 it is given as d'mugeres* 2 and in the chart
of Alonzo de Santa Cruz, made about the year 1538, it is spelled y a . de
mugeres. 43 Between Mujeres and Contoy is an island now known as Isla
Blanca. On both the Ribero and Santa Cruz maps Contoy is placed well
south of Cape Catoche, and between Contoy and Blanca is the name

87 In the translation of Bernal Diaz by Alfred P. Maudslay (see footnote 18).
The itinerary of the expedition under C6rdoba as worked out by Maudslay (Vol. 1, p. lxiii) is :

Santiago de Cuba
Feb. 8. 1517 Axaruco (Jaruco)

Gran Cairo, Yucatan (near Cape Catoche)
Sunday, day of San Lazaro Campeche (San Lazaro)

Chanpot6n (or Potonchan)
(Return Voyage) Estero de los Lagartos

Florida

Los Martires— The Shoals of the Martyrs
Puerto de Carenas (the modern Havana)
38 Channing Arnold and F.J. T.Frost: The American Egypt: A Record of Travel in Yucatan, New
York, 1908. The only part of this work which merits attention is the record of the trip made from Tizimin
to the northeast corner o{ Yucatan and to the islands and adjoining mainland (pp. 118-184).

39-42 The references to the early maps are taken from the work of Orozco y Berra: Apuntes para la
Historia de la Geografia en Mexico, published as Vol. 6 of the Anales del Mnisterio de Fomento de la
Mep&blica Mexicana, Mexico, 1881. This monument of patient industry of the learned licenaado must
not be overlooked by the student in search of information concerning the early geography of Mexico.

43 The " El yslario general de todas las yslas del mundo enderescado a la S. C C Magestad del Em-
perado y Rey nuestro Seflor por Alonzo de Sancta Cruz su cosm6grafo mayor " was published for the first
time, under the editorship of Fritz R. von Wieser, in Innsbruck, 1908, in honor of the Vienna session of the
International Congress of Americanists. The part published of the general work, as noted by the title, is
the fourth part, relating to America.

The map of Ribero noted in footnote 42 has been published by Edward L. Stevenson in his portfolio
of " Maps Illustrating Early Discovery and Exploration in America," New Brunswick, 1906, in an edition
of 28 copies.

448 THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Amazonas. This name is suggestive of Mujeres, and it may have been
applied in the earlier maps in the same connection. Cape Catoche, on these
early maps, is a point on the mainland and not an island.

Conclusion
The cartographical evidence, beginning with the very earliest map, of
1520, is therefore all in favor of the island of Mujeres. The earliest pub-
lished statement, as has been said, is that of Gomara, published in 1552.
Gomara was never in New Spain, but he was chaplain and secretary of
Cortes in later years, hence in intimate contact with the conqueror. It
seems strange, however, that the principal royal chronicler of the early
part of the sixteenth century, Oviedo, with access to all the material and
with the added advantage of having spent many years in the New World,
where he talked with many of the participants of these early voyages, does
not settle the matter. Indeed, Herrera, who came later as royal chronicler,
must have had good reason for ignoring the statement of Gomara that
Cordoba went to Cape Catoche after discovering Mujeres. The work of
Bernal Diaz, the only eyewitness of the three first expeditions to Yucatan,
in 1517, 1518, and 1519, was not begun until after the appearance of the
work of Gomara, written, as he says, to correct the errors of that history.
It was first printed, and then in an imperfect manner, in 1632. The
other works cited, that of Cervantes de Salazar and the "De Rebus Gestis,"
remained in manuscript until recently. These manuscripts and that of
Bernal Diaz, as well as others now lost, were undoubtedly consulted by
Herrera. "We cannot reconcile the distinct statement of Bernal Diaz con-
cerning the location of the temple containing the images resembling women
in the vicinity of Cape Catoche with the early christening of the island of
Mujeres with that name, as found in all the early maps, the earliest one
being printed before Cortes had completed the conquest of Mexico, in 1521.
Hence we leave the problem unsolved as to the exact site of the first land-
fall in Mexico.